Physiologically modulated video games add to the entertainment value of video games by adding the challenge of requiring a player to master physiological self-regulation skill as well as hand-eye coordination. Thus, controlling the physiological state, or learning to self-induce physiologic changes, is an additional skill requirement or challenge added to games. Although physiologically modulated videogames have entertainment value by making games more exciting, they also have advantages for encouraging health-enhancing physiological self-regulation skills or for therapeutic amplification of healthful physiological characteristics. Biofeedback, an effective treatment for various physiological problems, can be used to optimize physiological functioning in many ways. The benefits of biofeedback can, however, only be attained through a number of training sessions, and such gains can only be maintained over time through regular practice. Adherence to regular training, especially at home, has been a problem that has plagued the field of biofeedback and limited its utility to date. U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,820, which is incorporated herein by reference thereto, addressed this to a degree, by blending biofeedback into video games, which increases motivation. Biofeedback-modulated video games employing the technology of U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,820 are games that respond to physiological signals as well as mouse, joystick or game controller input; these games embody the concept of improving physiological functioning by rewarding specific healthy body signals with success at playing a video game. Such a biofeedback-modulated game method blends biofeedback into popular off-the-shelf video games in such a way that the games do not lose their entertainment value. This method uses physiological signals (e.g., electroencephalogram frequency band ratio) not simply to drive a biofeedback display directly, or periodically modify a task as in other systems, but to continuously modulate parameters (e.g., game character speed and mobility) of a game task in real time while the game task is being performed by other means (e.g., a game controller). Biofeedback-modulated video games represent a new generation of computer and video game environments that train valuable mental skills beyond eye-hand coordination. These psychophysiological training technologies are poised to exploit the revolution in interactive multimedia home entertainment for the personal improvement, not just the diversion, of the user. The technology of U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,820 modulates the manual inputs that a player makes to the buttons or joysticks of a video game hand controller. This modulation is based on measurements of physiological signals of the player.
However, a new type of video game (illustrated in FIG. 1) has a game controller that allows a player to make inputs to a video game by moving the entire controller itself. This capability is accomplished in operator-controlled game input devices, including the Nintendo wireless Wii remote using accelerometers, and an infrared LED tracking camera, and/or the remote's accessories (e.g., the Nintendo Nunchuk and MotionPlus devices using accelerometers and gyroscopes) (Nintendo, Wii and MotionPlus are registered trademarks of Nintendo of America Inc.)
Another new type of video game has a game controller that employs different camera image analysis methods than the Wii®. These new type video game systems, such as the Leap Motion®, Sony® Playstation® Move® and Microsoft® Kinect, use cameras that sense the player's image in whole or in part (e.g., the Leap Motion® or the Kinect®) or the image of an illuminated object on the player's control device (e.g., the Move®).
The video game system of FIG. 1 comprises a game console 10 that may either operate using infrared LED tracking (such as a Wii®) or player image tracking (such as a Leap Motion® or Kinect®) or illuminated object on the player's controller tracking (such as the Move®). In an infrared LED tracking configuration the system may include a controller or input device 12, a display 24 (such as a television), and left and right sensor bars 26, 28 (note, while the left and right sensor bars are illustrated as separate devices, in practice the left and right sensor bars are often incorporated into a single device having left and right portions). The game input device 12 comprises one or more gyroscopes 18 and one or more accelerometers 16 for sensing movement of the input device, an infrared receiver or camera 20 for detecting the infrared light emitting diodes (LEDs) of the sensor bars, a transmitter 22 (e.g., Bluetooth) for communicating with the console 10, user input devices (e.g., buttons, etc.) (not illustrated), and a processor 14 for processing the inputs to the game input device and controlling outputs from the game input device. The game system uses the known positional relationship between the left and right sensor bars to determine the game input device's approximate distance from the sensor bars and the input device's position and/or motion relative to the sensor bars. In a player image tracking configuration or illuminated object on the player's controller tracking configuration the system may not include the sensor bars 26 and 28 and IR receiver 20, and may rather include a camera or sensor 21 connected via wires or wirelessly to the game console 10. The camera 21 may enable the game console 10 to track the player's image in a player image tracking configuration and the camera 21 may enable the game console 10 to track the illumination of the controller 12 caused by the light source 15 in the controller 12 in a illuminated object on the player's controller tracking configuration.
However, the art described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,820 requires further advancement to work with these wireless controllers.